Rubber heel.



J. L. FORBES.

RUBBER HEEL.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 10, 1918.

1,278,625 Patented Sept. 10,1918.

INVENTOR WITNESSES Jfi f v ATTORNEY UNITE STATES JAMES LEE FORBES, OE STURGIS, SOUTH DAKOTA.

RUBBER HEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 10, 1918.

Application filed January 10, 1918. Serial No. 211,239.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES LEE FORBES, a

native-born citizen of the United States, residing at Sturgis, in the county of Meade and State of South Dakota, have invented new and useful Improvements in Rubber Heels, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to heels, and more especially to those containing a cushion; and the object of the same is to produce a rubber heel made up of an extremely soft section of rubber protected by denser or tougher sections of rubber, so that-thesoft section wherein most of the cushion occurs will wear longer and be subject as little as possible to extraneous influences;

These objects are carried out by constructing the heel in the manner hereinafter described and claimed, and as shown in thedrawings wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of a shoe with this heel applied thereto, the heel in this case being made entirely of rubber.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section of a heel -whereof the two upper lifts are of leather and the balance is of rubber according to my invention.

In the drawings let the letter B designate a boot or shoe whose sole S extends throughout the length of its bottom as usual, and H designates broadly the heel. In order to ease the wearer while walking, heels are now made so as to yield slightly by various means, one of which is to make the heel itself .or a portion thereof compressible. My invention is of that type of cushion heel which employs rubber, and the heel H may be made entirely of rubber or partly of rubber, as when one or two leather lifts L are attached to the lower face of the rear end of the sole S, and the remainder of the heel is made according to my invention.

In both views of the drawings the letter G designates what I call gasket rubber, and the letter R designates sponge rubber. The former, as is well known, is comparatively dense and quite tough whereas the latter is extremely porous and compressible, and would serve very well for the purposes of the cushion heel excepting that it wears away very readily, tears easily, spreads out under compression, and its pores become filled with moisture and dirt. All of this I prevent by interposing the sponge rubber R between two layers or lifts of gasket rubber I f G and connecting all parts in any suitable manner. As shown herein I have employed nails indicated at N, and in addition I propose to cement the contacting faces of the rubber lifts to each other as indicated by the black lines C between them, probably using rubber cement or any suitable cement which will cause rubber faces to adhere and is proof against moisture. In addition the edges of the rubber lifts may be painted or coated or otherwise treated as at P to prevent the entrance of moisture between the lifts or into the poresof the sponge rubber R. The nails may pass through all lifts as shown at the left of Fig. 2, or through the uppermost gasket G and the leather lifts only as shown at the right of Fig. 2, leaving the sponge rubber and the lower gasket rubber to be held to each other and to the upper gasket rubber by cement. In fact, I have discovered that not so high degree of elasticity. is required at the front edge of a heel as at the rear edge, and therefore it is possible to use nails in the front edgeextending down clear through the heel, and nails at the rear edge which do not penetrate the lower lift or lifts. The size and shape and details of this heel are not essential.

What is claimed as new is 1- A cushion heel comprising lifts of solid rubber, a lift of sponge rubber interposed between the lifts .of solid rubber, an adhesive binding the confronting faces of the lifts together and a coating applied to the edges of all of the lifts.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

JAMES LEE FORBES. 

